Sunday, August 18, 2013

My LASIK Experience

I wanted to write down all about my LASIK procedure before I forgot any of the details.  First off, I am 3 days Post Op and I see PERFECT.  I am so happy with the results and so glad that I did it!  So worth every penny and the fear associated with the unknown.  Thinking about the surgery made me want to cringe, but actually going through the surgery with a Valium and numbing drops was not that bad!

So, to start out:  I've been wearing glasses since 3rd grade and contacts since 8th.  I have wanted LASIK since college, but never thought about it as a realistic option.  We finally had accrued a significant amount in our HSA this year so Jared asked me if I wanted to do it this year.  Well, he didn't have to ask me twice---I had 3 LASIK consultation appointments that week!

I initially was sold on going to one place and made a surgery appointment because they were offering it for such a good price, but the procedure they did was called Advanced Surface Ablation (ASA) or Epi-Lasek or Lasek (lots of different names for the same thing).  Essentially what they do is put alcohol on your eye, which removes the outer layer (epithelium) and then laser in your prescription, give you a contact bandage while your epithelium heals, and you lie in pain for 5 days while your eyes get better.  Most people do this method only if their corneas are too thin for regular Lasik.  Regular LASIK is where they take a blade or laser and cut a flap in your eye, peel it back, then laser your prescription, then put the flap back in place.  I knew I was a candidate for regular LASIK so thinking about doing ASA was keeping me up at night.  I talked to two friends who had done that method and they said the recovery was horrible- but they were happy with their results later.  I knew that even if I had to pay a little more, I'd rather do LASIK.

So, I chose to do my LASIK at McDonald Eye Associates in Fayetteville.  What a great decision!!! It was an amazing experience all the way through.  We did a lot of back and forth, but they actually almost matched the ASA price.  What a blessing!

I had a couple of pre-op appointments. They wanted to make sure that my prescription didn't change each time I came in.  Everything looked good and I scheduled the surgery for August 15th.  In preparation for that, I had to wear my glasses for 3 weeks.  That was NO FUN at all.  Since I was in 8th grade, the only time I've ever worn glasses was right before bed or early in the morning, so I felt like I was never really ready for the day.  I also couldn't run with my glasses on, so had to do 12 and 14 mile runs essentially blind.  The waterpark was also super fun with glasses (NOT!)  Needless to say, I was thrilled for August 15th to roll around so I could get rid of those things!

 
(Suz and I at a pre-op appointment.  Awesome lighting. I'm a pro.)


The morning of the surgery, I was a NERVOUS WRECK.  The worst form of torture that I can think of would be someone prying my eyes open and poking them.  But when I arrived at the clinic, my optometrist, LASIK consultant, and the surgeon all sat and talked me through everything and calmed me.  My little Valium pill also helped take the edge off, although I was expecting it to make me loopy and not care at all about what was going to happen.  Didn't work that way.  Just took the edge off.  I was VERY AWARE of what was happening during the surgery.

For the surgery, they had me lay down and gave me a blanket so I felt super comfy. They gave me numbing eye drops. I looked up at a blinking red light.  They worked on one eye at a time, so they taped down my right eye with scotch tape (fancy!) and then started in on my left eye.  The first thing they had to do was tape my eye lashes back and then insert something under my eye lids to hold my eyes open.  NOT COMFY, but not painful.  Once that was in, they basically suction cupped my eye.  That part made me lose my vision. I was most afraid of this part before the surgery started, but it wasn't bad.  I kind of liked losing my vision at that part because that is right when they did the incision to cut my flap.  Didn't mind not seeing that.  Once the flap was created, they used an instrument to pull back my epithelium.  Once that happened, my vision went a little blurry.  But all I was ever looking at was at a blinking red dot, so I didn't mind.  Then for my favorite part.  No, seriously, I thought it was cool.  THE LASERS.  It didn't really look like anything. I just felt like I was looking at a red stoplight up close.  It made a buzzing sound and it smelt like I burned my hair in a curling iron.  It lasted about 10 seconds.  And then it was done!  The surgeon kept saying, "You're doing great, almost there." and it made me laugh because I wasn't doing anything!!! I was just laying there looking at a red dot!

After the lasers, they put my epithelium back in place and sealed it. And that was that!  They switched eyes.  It was over 5 minutes later.  When I sat up after, everything looked a little foggy.  But I could see. I read the time on the clock across the room.  It was a TRUE MIRACLE.


(This is me immediately after surgery at home- not happy)


Once I got home, my eyes burned for about 20 minutes and it was no fun.  Noah was having his Kindergarten Meet the Teacher night at his elementary school and I really wanted to go and so I did--- 2 hours post op.  And it distracted my eyes from burning and by the time I got home, I was fine. I fell asleep at 8 pm that night and by the next morning, I felt great. I had a post op appointment at 7:45 am (drove myself there) and was seeing 20/20.

I am absolutely THRILLED with the results.  I would do it all again tomorrow.  It is amazing being able to see and have eyes that work perfectly!  It blows my mind that the technology exists.  I am so grateful that I was able to do it.  Waking up in the middle of the night or in the morning and being able to see is amazing. I keep feeling like I need to take my contacts out and then I remember that I don't actually have any!  Best feeling ever.

I'm excited to wake up early tomorrow and hit the ground running (literally- going running) without having to put contacts into burning eyes that are rejecting having anything go in so early.  With that in mind, I gotta go to bed!!!  Goodnight! :)


(Here I am 36 hours post op.  My right eye has a bruise (popped blood vessels) from the suction cup, but no big deal!)

Monday, August 12, 2013

On My Mind

A lot has happened since the last time I posted anything.  Jared has been working some insane hours.  Like 90 hours a couple weeks ago.  60 hours for 6 weeks before that.  On top of that, he has been doing his MBA, which he just completed his first year (hooray).  One year left.  That will be such a happy day!!! 

Suzy has successfully potty trained again for the third time.  The UTI's earlier this year threw us for a huge loop and we had to put it off for a while because she was terrified to go potty in the toilet.  She associated the toilet with her UTI.  But luckily, about 3 weeks ago, her too small for her diaper that she was wearing, gave her an owie (sp?) and I ran with that! ("Suz, your diapers are giving you owies now! Your body is telling you it wants to wear big girl underwear and go potty in the toilet!")  It worked! Yay!  She's still probably only at 80% success so there are still accidents to clean up, but I'm proud of her and glad we don't have to buy so many diapers!

This week I'm getting LASIK!!! I'm so excited to never have to wear glasses or contacts again.  Tomorrow is my Pre-Op appointment and then on Thursday, it's the surgery.  I've had to wear glasses for almost 3 weeks now to let my corneas go back to their natural/normal state.  HUGE PAIN IN THE BOOTY!  But only a few days left.  I'll have to do a follow up post to talk about the actual surgery and the results in case anyone is interested!

Noah starts Kindergarten next week!  We are so excited (we being me and Noah!) There is no sad mama here. Of course, I'll miss having the little guy around, but he is so ready. He has been talking about Kindergarten since he was 2 years old!  I think he's going to do great.  A lot of parents I think have questioned us for putting him in school (trend is definitely to hold your kid back) with his smaller size and because his birthday is July 27 and the cut off is Aug 1- but I think anyone who really knows Noah knows that he is 100000% ready for school.  Yes, he's wearing size 2T and 3T clothes, but mentally, socially, emotionally, and every other way- he is prepared and ready! 






Wednesday, May 1, 2013

For the Love of Running

I have been doing a lot of running lately.
I just finished my 8th Half Marathon.  I ran it with my friend, Katie, who helped me run much faster than I would have if I were by myself. 
 
Jared and I are running a Marathon in Baltimore in October.  I'm excited/feel crazy for doing it. But we LOVE running together. We frequently pay a babysitter to come watch our kids so we can go on long runs.  Best date ever.  Amazing quality time.
 
Here's Katie and I after the Bentonville Half 2013.
 

My fan club/support group/future runners.


 
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 10K.  I got a PR.  Finished 6.2 miles in 57 min. 
My love and I. 
 


Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Suzy's Potty Training Rollercoaster Ride

It feels good to be back blogging again.  Let's hope I can keep it up.

Today's Topic:  Potty Training.

About three weeks ago, Suzy decided that she was going to be a big girl and wear underwear.  So, just like that, she started going potty in the toilet.  After a week, there were no more accidents.  It was amazing and a dream!  No more money spent on diapers!  I was so proud of Suz. 

(Here's her ice cream celebration for being a Big Girl)
 
Notice all of that last paragraph was in past tense.
She's now back in diapers.
But it's not exactly her fault, per se.
The poor girl got a Urinary Tract Infection. 
 
It started about two weeks after Day One of potty training.  She started to have a ton of accidents.  Like 12 per day!  I was going crazy doing wash and getting super frustrated.  Everytime she would wet her pants, she would cross her legs and scream and cry.  I just thought she hated being all wet.  One time, I caught her before she had an accident and we ran to the bathroom.  I sat her on her little potty seat and when she peed, she started screaming bloody murder and bawling.  So, it wasn't that she hated being wet.  I called the doctor immediately and I was impressed, they got me in within 20 minutes!
 
She did a urine sample at the clinic (I was impressed that Suzy did this- I just said, "Icecream Suz?" and she peed in a cup).  It came back that she had E-coli and she started antibiotics right away.
 
After she's done with the antibiotics, I think we'll try underwear again.  But the AWFUL part is that she now associates wearing big girl underwear and going potty with PAIN. :( :( :(
 
Moral of the story: Don't let a two year old be in charge of wiping themselves.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Did you Bring the Kindergardner?

Anyone who knows my little Noah knows that he's- well, little.  He was born at 4 lbs 9 oz, not because he was early, but because he had IUGR (intra-uterine growth restriction) where he basically stopped growing after 34 weeks gestation.  He's always been smaller than other kids his age, but as he's getting closer to turning 5 (in July) and starting Kindergarten this year, we decided we'd better check and see if we needed to start growth hormones or do any other special measures. 

Noah stats: 28 lbs.  36 inches.  4 years 8 months old.  0.3 %

Dr. S decides to do an X-ray to determine his bone age.  If his bone age is 4 years 8 months or older, it would mean that he is always going to be extremely small.  If his bones are aged younger, then he just has stunted growth and he will catch up.

So, how old are them bones?! 

2 years 8 months!  Hooray!

If you plug his measurements into the 2 1/2 year old chart, then he is 25%.  Still 3 out of 4 two year olds are going to be bigger than him, but we are still excited that he is going to catch up sometime. 

So, yes I'm sending my sweet boy that looks like he is 2 1/2 to kindergarten this year.  After counseling with his preschool teachers and talking it over with Jared, we all feel like he is socially, mentally, and emotionally ready to start. 

When we went to Kindergarten registration last week, I handed a lady our paperwork and she looked at me and then Noah and asked me, "Did you bring the Kindergardner?"  It was awesome.

 (so you can get an idea, Suzy is like 15% for 2 1/2 year olds)
 



 
I sure LOVE my little, smart, sweet man!

 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Life

I have no idea what I am going to write about and why I decided to even log on here.  Maybe because I actually came upstairs to sit at the computer...I'm usually only ever on my iphone.  I think the iphone is actually killing blogging to some extent.  That or instagram.  Or facebook.  At least for me!

Well- life is moving in warp speed ever since Audrey was born.
* insert cute Audrey picture here *
 
Audrey is my easiest baby so far.  She is so good.  She does wake up a lot during the night, but I'm willing to overlook that considering how good she is when she's awake.  No crying or fussing unless she's hungry, but I usually feed her before she ever gets whiny.  She's also very smiley.  And just started laughing.  The kids love her to pieces.  I hate to think of life without her and it's only been 3 months since she joined us.
 
 
 
Noah and Suzy both got hit hard with the flu.  It was an awful TEN days.  I cleaned up never ending puke & diarrhea, stayed up with feverish and hallucinating kids (Noah swore there were green witches in his room and that it was snowing), and quarantined us for a week and a half.  NOT FUN.  I almost came down with it and so did Jared, but we stayed strong.  So did Audge.  Yay!
 
Here we are at the doctor's office. 
 
I needed something different and to feel more 'current' and less 'mom of pukey kids' so I dyed my hair RED and I'm LOVING it.
 
 
Jared's mom had a birthday and we took her out for....SEAFOOD?! (bleh!)
So, obviously that wasn't my choice, but I got a nice chicken pasta and this cheesecake was to die for and...oh yeah, it wasn't about me or the food! ;)
 
 
These two are going to be best friends.  I mean, I think they already are.
 
 
Not pictured, but worth mentioning:
 
I'm training for another half marathon (Bentonville Half) on April 6.  This will be my 8th half!  I'm so excited for it.  Hopefully it will start preparing me for the MARATHON that Jared and I signed up to run in Baltimore on October 12th (one day before my birthday).  I LOVE running!
 
I'm starting a Healthy Habits challenge on Monday.  Basically I will earn a point for doing the following things:
 
Write in journal
Read Scriptures 10 minutes
Say 2 personal prayers
6 fruits/veggies a day minimum of 3 veggies
8 glasses of water a day
30 min exercise
No junk food
Eat within an hour of waking up
No eating past 8 pm
Get 7-9 hours of sleep
 
We put $20 in the pot and the winner with the most points after 6 weeks or the highest percentage of body weight lost splits the ca$h.  I'll let you know how I do.
 
AND last but not least.
I finally ordered one of these.  And it arrives tomorrow.
I am SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!  It's like Christmas Eve right now!
 
 
 
Goodnight!